You Have: One New Message
by SteampunkFairytale
Summary: Damon amuses himself by checking out the ludicrous myths that people come up with about Vampires. Bella's finally on track to finding out what Edward and his family are. They meet on a Vampire Lore message board, and quickly grow close. Soon Damon finds himself falling in love again against his will. Small problem: Bella's in love with Edward... right? Bella/Damon. IN PROGRESS
1. Prologue

**Hellooooo Readers! SteampunkFairytale here, and I'm back and better than ever with another crossover with The Vampire Diaries and Twilight. The pairing is most assuredly Bella/Damon, since Bella with either Damon Salvatore or Dean Winchester is totally my OTP, and there aren't nearly enough creative takes on either ship, I decided that I would lend my pen to the task. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Summary: Damon amuses himself by checking out the ludicrous myths that people come up with about Vampires. Bella's finally on track to finding out what Edward and his family are. They meet on a Vampire Lore message board, and quickly grow close. Soon Damon finds himself falling in love again against his will. Small problem: Bella's in love with Edward... right? Bella/Damon, mild Bella/Edward. Set in Twilight just after Bella visits La Push, and Season One of The Vampire Diaries, not long after Damon finds out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb**

* * *

 **You Have: One New Message**

 **Prologue**

Bella lay on her bed, thinking of the trip she took to the beach earlier that day. Or rather, the story Jacob Black had told her in a good natured attempt to frighten her. She stared blankly at the ceiling, listening to the winds whip and howl around her window. Could The Cullens really be Vampires? It was impossible...right? She grit her teeth. What could it have possibly been then? She couldn't just explain away all the impossible things she had seen. It had to be true. She glanced at the clock. It was only half past twelve at night. She had been able to function with far less sleep before. Decision made, Bella rolled out of bed, heading over to her dinosaur of a computer.

While waiting for her ancient computer to finish, she started doubting herself again. "This is crazy." She murmured to herself, shaking her head. The main screen on her computer blossomed to life and Bella bit her lip, hand hovering hesitantly over the mouse. In another fit of determination, she quickly opened the search engine and typed her search into google before she lost her nerve.

 _Vampires._

* * *

Damon lounged sullenly before the fire, knocking back another glass of bourbon. What the actual fuck was he supposed to do now? Katherine wasn't in the tomb. She had never been in the tomb. A part of him hoped that she died in that fire. It was preferable to the alternative, but somehow he doubted that that was the case. Katherine had always been clever, so it stood to reason that she had figured a way out of the fire. That meant that Katherine had been free all this time, and hadn't cared enough to go looking for him. For well over a century his main goal was to have Katherine back, and all this time she hadn't cared, had never cared about him. All that fucking time wasted. He poured himself another glass, and shot that back too. Saint Stefanie was almost too easy to torture nowadays. One little suggestive smirk Elena's way and he was ready to rip his own hair out. It actually wasn't even fun anymore. He groaned and shot back yet another glass. He was over a century and a half old, and this was the first time since becoming a Vampire that he was actually bored of all things. He rolled his eyes and went to pour himself another shot only to realize that he had emptied the last bottle. Lovely, now he didn't even have alcohol to distract him.

He wandered aimlessly around the house, stopping when he reached his brother's room. The laptop he used for school was sitting innocently on the table, and Damon shrugged. Maybe he could get his brother's brooding eyebrows of doom to an all new level by leaving some porn open in the web browser or something to see when he got back from his little sleepover with Elena. Maybe it'd actually encourage his baby brother to pull the giant stick out of his ass for once. Not likely, but hey, a guy can dream. What else could he do to pass the time though? Googling his name wouldn't really bring anything up, unlike Stefan he was actually careful about that sort of thing. It did give him an idea though. Smirking, he quickly typed in a word that'd likely give him hours of amusement over the common stupidity most humans seemed to share.

 _Vampires._

* * *

Bella hesitated again, unsure of what to write. This message board was probably more than just a bad idea, it was probably going to get her stalked and murdered by some goth creep living in his mother's basement. It was less than likely that she would actually light upon something useful. **_The Lair: Vampire Lovers Only_** was a website where misguided teens likely in serious need of psychological aid gathered in droves. Which actually could end up applying to her now that she thought about it. Shaking her head, she steeled herself. She had made the decision to go through with this, and dammit, she was gonna stick to it. She had picked out her username and everything already, a vague reference to one of her favorite authors that only a classic literature buff like herself would probably get. She nervously typed out a message, painfully aware of how cliche it looked.

 _Ellis_Bell: I think a boy in my class might be a Vampire. He's pale white, as cold and hard as marble with eyes that change from black to gold, and seems to be impossibly fast and strong. Could he actually be a Vampire?_

Bella braced herself again as she hit the post button. She stayed on the website, scrolling through various topics and public conversations. It looked like one guy in particular was having the time of his life tearing into all the grammatically challenged tweens claiming to have had experiences with Vampires. Bella shook her head, hoping this guy wouldn't go anywhere near her own post.

That was when the stream of denials started popping up under her question.

* * *

Damon was absolutely thrilled with this new pastime he had found. Ripping into these idiot little freaks that believed that Vampires were these lonely and misunderstood angelic creatures had been the most fun he had had in ages. He shook his head, grinning maniacally. His grin grew as he came across a more recent post by an Ellis_Bell. Well well, a Bronte fan among these uncultured heathens? This he had to see. He clicked on the thread curiously, seeing how many responses it had already gotten. His grin faded however as he read the post. What were the chances that he would actually come across a genuine Vampire problem? And one of the other kind at that? He scrolled down to see the responses, shaking his head as apparently everyone denied that this girl was actually going to school with a Vampire. Honestly, these children wouldn't know a Vampire if it literally bit them in the ass.

Damon read over Ellis_Bell's post again, internally debating if he should tell the poor girl the truth. If it was the other kind of Vampire, she could very well be in serious danger. Then again, apparently this eternal teen liked bambi as much as his brother. It was possible that the girl would be totally fine, as long as she dropped the whole Vampire line of thinking. Though his brother was a vegetarian Vampire as well, and he was a ticking time bomb of ripper bloodlust waiting to go off. The other kind of Vampire were even less controlled than his own, going completely savage for the first year or so of their unlives. Nodding decisively, Damon went to give his own response to Ellis_Bell.

After all, he couldn't let the first semi-intelligent person on this forsaken website die, could he? She had actually used punctuation properly and wrote in legible English after all.

* * *

 _vampgirl666: OMG HOW CAN YOU TINK THATS A VAMPIRE YOU IDIOT VAMPIRES HAVE FANGS DUH_

 _FangsBro: vamps cant go out at day dont know why you thought this was a vamp tbh_

 _Spuffy4EVA: 2EZ girlfriend. Totally not a vamp_

 _LestatsLover: VAMPS DONT HAVE GOLD EYES 4COL_

Bella shook her head as she looked at the growing list of poorly spelled denials. What made her actually go through with this she had no idea. She knew it would be no help. She was about to give up and close everything down when one more response popped up on her thread.

 _SexyBeast: Looks like you've got a Cold One on your hands gorgeous. Feel free to PM me for more info ;)_

Bella stopped short, mouse icon hovering over the tiny red X in the corner of the screen. Alarms went off in her head, every inch of the cop's daughter in her sending up red flags. This was the only concrete lead she had gotten though. After a moment's inner debate, she opened up a private chat and messaged SexyBeast.

 _Ellis_Bell: You know, your username doesn't really inspire confidence that you're not some kind of internet perv._

Moments later, her inbox dinged with a new message.

 _SexyBeast: I'm just being honest babe, you'll have to take my word for it. ;)  
_

Bella shook her head, just barely suppressing a light laugh. She didn't want to risk waking Charlie.

 _Ellis_Bell: I suppose I do. Now, what's this about Cold Ones?_

 _SexyBeast: First thing's first gorgeous, I want to know some things too. You need to tell me **everything** that's happened._

* * *

 **And that's all she wrote folks, for today at least. Hope you enjoyed. For those who don't know, Ellis Bell is the pen name Charlotte Bronte used when she published Wuthering Heights, which is Bella's favorite book in Twilight Canon, and the message board here is the one Jeremy went on in season 1, episode 16. See ya soon! :)**


	2. Call Me Maybe?

**Got another one here for ya folks! A nice big thank you to my beta Arianna. Any mistakes here are mine, not hers. Enjoy!**

* * *

 **You Have: One New Message**

 **Chapter One:**

 _Ellis_Bell: Then as I was taken away to the ambulance I noticed that he had left a dent in the car behind us, and it fit the contours of his shoulders exactly. What are the chances of that being a coincidence?_

 _SexyBeast: Very slim. Go on._

It continued like that, Bella spilling out her whole story to this complete stranger on the Internet. Good Lord, she didn't even know his name! Or even if he was a _he_ at all. SexyBeast listened patiently, occasionally inserting a snide comment about Edward or informing Bella that no, she wasn't in fact going insane.

 _Ellis_Bell: Well, then we sort of got into an argument in the hospital hallway. I told him what I saw, and insisted when he claimed I just hit my head, and he just blew me off, claiming that no one would believe me._

 _SexyBeast: Well he's obviously an idiot. What did you say to that?_

 _Ellis_Bell: I told him the truth. That I wasn't planning on telling anyone. I just wanted to be sure I was lying for a good reason. He seemed surprised._

 _SexyBeast: That_ _ **is**_ _surprising gorgeous. Why wouldn't you tell anyone? Myself excluded of course ;)_

 _Ellis_Bell: I wasn't about to disrespect the guy who just saved my life by spreading rumors about him. All I've gotten for it is trouble though, so I want to know what I'm getting myself into._

Bella wasn't going to comment on the gorgeous bit. This guy had no idea what she looked like, or even what her name was. How could he possibly know if she was pretty or not? She wasn't going to tell him that though, because she didn't want to upset him before he gave her the information she needed. It had absolutely nothing to do with the thrill that went down her spine and the flush that spread across her cheeks every time he called her that.

At least, that's what she kept telling herself.

* * *

Who _was_ this girl? Damon wondered as he read over her story. Apparently this girl had Sherlock Holmes levels of observation skills, and the predictability of a tornado to boot. This Cold One was an idiot if he underestimated her. She was obviously brilliant, but damned if she was just too naive for words. She had no idea of the amount of deep shit she had gotten herself into. Of all things, she had to find the supernatural world through Cold Ones? Damon himself had come across the Volturi once in his travels, and they were a very nasty group. He didn't even have to wonder what they would do if they found out this Ellis_Bell knew about them. He had witnessed The Guard having their fun with some poor random girl who had gotten in too deep with a Vampire. They had tortured her to death right in front of her lover, until the Vampire himself had been driven mad at the sight. As far as he knew, they still had that poor bastard locked away somewhere, and that was almost a century ago. He wasn't quite sure why, but the thought of something like that happening to the innocent stranger he was talking to made his stomach turn. Another message from Ellis_Bell popped up.

 _Ellis_Bell: Anyways, not long after that I went with some friends to La Push, and a boy from the local tribe told me some local legends about Vampires. It all just fits together, almost too well. He's impossibly fast and strong. His skin is pale white and ice cold, I've never seen him or his family actually eat anything, his eyes change color, and the whole family skipped blood type day. I checked._

Damon leaned back in the chair, staring at Stefan's laptop. What could he possibly say that could help? He could give her the information she was desperately looking for, but that could put her in even more danger than what she was in now. Something she had said occurred to him, and he grit his teeth.

 _SexyBeast: You said that you think you smell bad when you're around him sometimes, right?_

 _Ellis_Bell: Yeah, it's like he's trying not to breathe when I'm around. More than once I saw his eyes go dark._

 _Ellis_Bell:...He wants my blood, doesn't he?_

Damon closed his eyes, a flicker of worry in his gut. _Singer._ This girl was officially being moved out of the "kinda dangerous" territory, and right into "mortal peril". He could almost hear those words being spoken to him by a feminine voice, soft and more than a little scared. He reopened his eyes and leaned over the keyboard, rapidly typing out a response.

 _SexyBeast: He hasn't killed you yet. That's a good sign. The fact that he has gold eyes means that he only feeds off of animal blood, and when they're black it means that he needs to feed. I don't think he wants to kill you. This is serious though Bell, you shouldn't confront him. It seems like you've got a knack for putting him on edge, and you do not want to push him over. Do you understand?_

* * *

Bella stared at the screen, and resisted the urge to curl up into a ball. Edward was a Vampire, and he wanted to kill her. Maybe not deliberately, but his instincts told him to. She took a shaky breath, and decided she would face this head on. She wouldn't confront Edward like she had been planning, but she was going to make damn sure that she wouldn't be eaten. She reread the message, and her eyes lingered on what he had called her. Not Sweetheart, or Gorgeous, but Belle. Logically she understood that he had gotten that from the second part of her username, but it all felt an awful lot more familiar with him calling her that. She looked at it a while longer, long enough for SexyBeast to prompt her again. She found herself smiling and went to write back

 _Ellis_Bell: I promise I won't confront him. What should I do though? I can't exactly avoid him, he'd know something was up after all my questions._

 _SexyBeast: Don't seek him out. If he comes to you, try to act as normally as you can. If you think he's following you, stay in public as much as you can. Vampires stalk their prey._

Bella shuddered at that last sentence, and looked around uncomfortably. Her room suddenly didn't seem quite as safe as it did just a few hours ago.

 _Ellis_Bell: Please excuse me while I go lock my window...and possibly every other window in the house._

Bella rose from her seat and did exactly that, running around the house and locking every window she could find. She even went to the basement to make sure everything was secure down there. The doors she already knew were secure, and she was pleased to find that the windows all had sturdy locks that she could use. When she returned to her computer, she had a response waiting for her.

 _SexyBeast: If it makes you feel better sweetcheeks, I can always come and protect you. I take the left side of the bed ;)_

She let out a laugh as she shook her head, typing out her message back.

 _Ellis_Bell: I don't think that'll be necessary buddy. Also, what happened to Bell? That's been my favorite name for me by far._

 _SexyBeast: It is, is it? Well then, I suppose I'll have to stick to that, bella mia._

 _Ellis_Bell: *sigh* You're not going to stop, are you?_

Bella rolled her eyes, she could almost see a shit-eating grin forming on his face in her mind's eye.

 _SexyBeast: Oh my sweet Bell, you have no idea._

* * *

Bella slept dreamlessly that night, exhausted after staying up most of the night talking to SexyBeast. She woke up the next morning with a smile on her face. She and SexyBeast had stayed up into the wee hours of the morning talking. First it had just been about Vampire stuff, filling her in about stuff she needed to know, but over the course of the conversation they had found themselves just chatting about this and that. Bella had surprisingly really enjoyed his sense of humor, and she could tell that he had enjoyed their banter just as much as she had. She still didn't know his name, but he had been persistent in his constant pet names, calling her some variation of Bell the whole night. His favorite had clearly been bella mia

For the second time since arriving in Forks, she woke to the bright yellow light of a sunny day. She was pleasantly surprised to see hardly a cloud in the sky. She went to unlock her window, and stopped short.

Her window was unlocked.

Bella almost ran over to her computer, still loaded up from her being on it only a few hours before. She quickly loaded up The Lair, and sent a private message to SexyBeast.

 _Ellis_Bell: I think he broke into my room last night._

She got no response then, or for hours afterward.

* * *

Damon growled at the screen as he loaded up The Lair that evening to find that Ellis_Bell had sent him a message that morning. Stefan had gone out hunting, and once again left his laptop unguarded for Damon to take advantage of. He clicked on the new message quickly scanned it. As he did, something that absolutely _wasn't_ worry jolted through him. He and Ellis_Bell had spent a good portion of the night talking. First about Vampires, then about other things. Putting the pieces together from things she had told him or let slip, she was a seventeen year old junior living not too far from an indian reservation that a simple Google search told him was in Washington State. She loved Austen and Bronte, and thought Shakespeare was a misogynist. She favored classical music, but also had things by Linkin Park and Bon Jovi. She had always wanted to travel the world and explore new things, but had happily spent most of her life taking care of her mother in Arizona. She was a living contradiction, and Damon was finding himself more than a little interested in it.

 _SexyBeast: Are you ok?_ He typed quickly and sent. He had a response moments later.

 _Ellis_Bell: I'm fine. It was sunny today, wonder of wonders. The whole family was out "hiking', and I got the chance to enjoy some long missed vitamin D. I've missed the sun._

 _SexyBeast: Winter weather not doing it for you, huh?_

 _Ellis_Bell: More like Washington weather. What do I do about Edward though? Charlie is working late at the station tomorrow, so I'm going out with a group of friends to make sure I'm not alone._

 _SexyBeast: Good idea. Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, by the way. I'm technically stealing my brother's laptop_

 _Ellis_Bell: Don't worry about it. I mean, I had a mini heart attack this morning and all, but I'm fine._

 _SexyBeast: Can't have that happening again, can we now mia bella? (434) 549-1489. Call me ;)_

* * *

Bella bit her lip, hesitantly looking at the latest message from SexyBeast. He had given her his number, and the part of her brain that sounded like Charlie kept screaming 'Stranger Danger, Stranger Danger!'. They had spent the better part of the night talking, but they still barely knew each other. Bracing herself, she made decision, and quickly hit a succession of buttons on her phone. It rang for a few seconds, before the line was picked up. The voice was obviously male. Deep and confident, Bella could see the cocky smirk in her mind's eye even clearer now.

"Hello?" The man's voice asked, and Bella took in a sharp breath.

"You know, you still aren't doing much to prove to me that you're not some kind of internet perv." She pointed out. The Man -Bella _so_ wasn't going to call him SexyBeast now- chuckled.

"Well well mia bella, I wasn't sure if you had it in you." He said, amused.

"Just Bella, actually." Bella corrected with a small smile. "And you are?"

"Damon Salvatore." Damon said, and obvious smirk in his voice. "So, you actually are mia Bella then, are you?" Bella rolled her eyes, glad Damon Salvatore wasn't there to see the blush staining her cheeks.

"I'm not so sure about that." She said, trying to sound more confident than she actually was.

"We'll see." Damon said simply, not pushing anything, yet still sounding rather ominous. "So tell me, _mia Bella_ , how was school?"


End file.
